Sentencing Guidelines - Post-Booker

In United States v. Sullivan, the Fourt Circuit vacated the sentences of two individuals convicted of numerous charges related to a drug conspiracy in Beaufort, South Carolina. Both individuals appealed their convictions. While their appeals were pending, the Supreme Court decided United States v. Booker, which held that the US Sentencing Guidelines were advisory rather than mandatory and that any fact necessary to support a sentence exceeding the maximum authorized by the facts in the case must be established by a jury verdict or a guilty plea.

During the sentencing phase of Sullivan and Campbell, the district court conducted its own fact-finding and discovered that both individuals had been involved in the murders of two rival drug dealers. With that new information, the court enhanced the criminal sentences to life imprisonment. In light of Booker, the Fourth Circuit held that the sentences must be vacated and remanded for resentencing because the sentences depended on the murder references which were not supported by a prior conviction, a guilty plea, or a jury verdict.

(Contributed by Kristina Cooper)